Diary of an Arcade Employee

Anyone else miss Cherry Cola Slice?

Like many people who were alive in the 1980s, I went through a “Slice” drinking phase. Since Slice replaced, Teem, which I enjoyed, the move was a natural. But my drinking of it didn’t heat up until they started selling Mandarin Orange Slice. Then when Coca-Cola started selling Cherry Coke, Slice fired back with a Cherry Cola Slice, which for some reason spoke to my soda sensibilities (maybe the 10% fruit juice).

Sadly it only lasted 2 years before it was replaced with Wild Cherry Pepsi. Which was a black day for Cherry Cola drinkers. Wild Cherry Pepsi, while having an amazing name, did not live up to Slice’s Cherry Cola. To this day, whenever I drink a Cherry Cola, which is usually a Coke, my taste buds detect hints of what Cherry Cola Slice was all about. Cherry Cola Slice phantoms lurk in the complex notes of cherry and cola flavor, swirling in an effervescent pool of cold sugar water.

As you can guess from this post, this soda lefts its mark on me. Part of me keeps hoping to see it in stores again in some formulation, but after all these years, nothing.

It was my favorite beverage ever. When it was discontinued, there was no notice, it just suddenly was gone. I wish I could have stocked up on it and weened myself from it slowly.

I spotted a single can of Cherry Cola Slice at a rundown gas station once and bought it. I cracked it open and it tasted as though it had been hand crafted by angels. I had a feeling it would be my last ever taste of Cherry Cola Slice, and it was.

I wish I could find some and share it with my wife. I talk about it all the time but she doesn’t remember it.